


In Which The Author Completely Disregards San Francisco's Real Life Weather Patterns For The Sake Of Plot

by strawberryjams



Category: We Bare Bears (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff without Plot, M/M, in which panda and charlie arent technically dating but at the same time they totally are u feel me?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 12:56:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15886512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryjams/pseuds/strawberryjams
Summary: When an unusually snowy day renders Charlie a little under the weather, Panda brings him back to the cave so he can warm up and recover.





	In Which The Author Completely Disregards San Francisco's Real Life Weather Patterns For The Sake Of Plot

**Author's Note:**

> Just a self-indulgent fluff-without-plot fic, I've been in a really wintery mood for some reason, even though it's still boiling outside :P This is the first fic I've written in quite a few years, I hope it's decent!

Panda woke up to the sound of his older brother knocking frantically on his bedroom door. For the first couple moments, he waited it out, simply turning onto his stomach and burying his face in his pillow. _Maybe this isn't actually happening, maybe I just dreamed that I heard knocking,_ Panda tried to assure himself. But several seconds of continued knocking later, the sleepy bear had already gone through all the stages of grief, and begrudgingly accepted that he would have to actually answer Grizz if he ever wanted any chance to go back to bed. “Bluhhh, what do you waaaant.” Panda whined, finally convincing himself to turn back over and sit up.

“Panda, Panda, PANDA!” Grizz all but shouted out as he burst into his brother's room, as if he was just barely resisting the urge to barge in before Panda answered. With little hesitation, Grizz hopped onto Panda’s bed, his eyes wide as he placed his paws on the other’s shoulders. “Oh my gosh, I went outside just for a second, and there wasn't a single blade of grass out there, man, everything is just white and sparkly and this kind of thing just does NOT happ--”

“Grizz, Grizz, yeesh, I need you to slow down by like, fifty miles an hour.” Panda shooed away his brother’s paws, right before placing his own on Grizz’s forehead in an attempt to calm him down. Grizz was quickly silenced as Panda gave him a couple of little pats, then, once he was adequately shooshed, took back his paw. “Now, what were you saying, again?”

Grizz took a deep breath before he spoke up again. Everything came bursting out, a couple notches less than all-at-once. But at least he was comprehensible this time. “There’s snow outside, man! Here! They didn’t even predict this on the weather or anything, it just happened overnight!”

Panda would admit, he could see why Grizz would be so worked up, he was pretty certain it hasn't snowed in San Francisco since, well, ever, in their lifetime. It was enough to make Panda lift himself onto his feet, anyway. “Seriously? Man, the weather is serious chaos nowadays, isn't it?”

"Ha, tell me about it.” Grizz let out a little laugh, seeming to have gotten that initial excitement out of his system, thank goodness for that. He followed Panda out of the door, the two making their way to the dining area just like their usual habit as they continued to talk. “You should've seen little bro, he looked like he was about to burst into tears.”

“Ice Bear only cried a little.” Said a voice from the kitchen as Panda and Grizz took their seats. Only moments later, the youngest of the bears was coming out with several plates of food, setting each one down. Omelettes for Grizz, French toast for Panda, and a bowl of oatmeal for himself.

Of course, even if these dishes seemed pretty simple, there was no such thing as a disappointing meal made by Ice Bear. “Aw man, what would we do without you?” Panda asked as he pulled out his phone, because of course he wanted to snap a picture or two or seventeen. Ice Bear was heading to the kitchen again once the other two were already going to town on their breakfast, returning a moment later with three mugs.

“Huh? I thought you didn’t drink coffee.” Grizz noted with a raised brow.

“Not coffee. Peppermint cocoa.” Ice corrected him, setting each mug down on the table. Even a mug of cocoa prepared by Ice managed to look gorgeous, with whipped cream on top and little cinnamon sticks poking out and everything. Panda gasped, quick to take his phone out yet again.

“Man, we _would_ be lost without you, you’re seriously the best, little bro!” As soon as Grizz was done speaking, he sipped at his mug, sighing out in total bliss.

“Ice Bear knows. Thinks you’re the best too. Almost.” Ice gave the tiniest smile as he settled down into his seat and started to eat with his brothers. But even he, the one with probably the most etiquette of them all when it came to eating (not like that was really saying much), couldn't help but eat just a little quicker. There was snow outside, nobody wanted to waste a single moment that could be spent playing out there!

In record time, the bears got done eating, and like they had already planned their next move telepathically, the three were bursting out the door. Grizz and Panda were cheering in synchronization, “Snow, snow, snow, sn-- Cold, cold!” And just as quick as the two burst out and stepped foot in the snow, they were going right back inside, they had completely forgotten to bundle up. Ice Bear, on the other hand, had taken a few steps away from the door, put his arms out, and flopped back, falling right into the snow. Grizz and Panda were joining him again in less than a minute, with hats, scarves, and boots, chanting, “Snow, snow, snow, SNOW!” once again. Panda decided that he’d join Ice on the ground, laughing as he fell back and allowed himself to be engulfed by the snow. Grizz just smiled to himself as he took a pawful of snow, packed it into a ball, and threw it riiight into Panda’s face.

Panda yelped out at the attack, sitting up as he started spitting out snow. “Blehhh!” Panda stuck his tongue out at Grizz, blowing a raspberry in his direction before he reached down to grab some snow for himself. Poor Grizz barely had time to even put his paws up in defense before Panda punted the snowball right at the eldest’s chest, Grizz yelling out in _completely_ proportionate distress as he fell down into the snow.

“Rest easy now, good night, sweet prince, etcetera, etcetera.” Panda sniffled and wiped away an imaginary tear as he walked over to his dear fallen brother, who laid motionless, eyes all rolled back and his tongue flopped out. “Pfft-- At least he died gracefully.” Panda kneeled down in hopes of being able to say his final goodbyes, but suddenly, Grizz sprang back up! “Oh no! A completely unexpected development!” Panda gasped.

“I will wreak my vengeance on you, brother!” Grizz grinned as he took some more snow, not even bothering to make it into any sort of vague ball-ish shape before he smashed it all on top of Panda’s head. The two found themselves so busy giggling and throwing snow on each other, they didn’t even notice something creeping behind them, burrowed in the snow, virtually undetectable. Panda only heard the shuffling behind him when it was already too late, Ice Bear emerging from his snow tunnel with a snowball huge enough to be the base of a snowman. It was clear that Ice had no intention to build, though, only to destroy. The world felt like it was in slow motion as Grizz and Panda looked on in horror, Ice Bear’s snow bomb falling onto them, and, finally, completely covering their heads with snow.

“Nooo, an actually unexpected development!” Panda cried out (while he and Grizz were still laughing their tails off).

“Nobody can defeat Ice Bear in a snowball fight.” He proclaimed, but perhaps all too soon. Within seconds, two snowballs were thrown right in his face, one from each of the other bears. “...Ice Bear stands defeated.” In resignation, he laid himself down in the snow, shut his eyes, and stuck his tongue out.

“Oh, get up, you big dorklord.” Grizz smiled, tapping his foot against Ice’s side.

“Ice Bear wants to stay in snow for another minute. Go on without him.”

After a couple of hours of snowy shenanigans, the brothers (with some reluctance) decided they should head back inside, maybe throw their hats and scarves in the dryer before they ended up freezing onto them or something. Ice Bear was fine out there, sure, but the other two had begged him oh so sweetly to make another batch of that peppermint hot chocolate, he couldn't say no. With their winter clothes put away, Grizz and Panda settled on the couch, watching some T.V. idly while they waited on their brother. Once commercials began to roll, Panda pulled out his phone to check the time, a little surprised to find that it was already a few minutes past noon. Noon, huh, why did that ring a bell…

“Hey, didn’t we invite Charlie to come over today?” Panda finally remembered. “You’d think he’d be here by now, he’s usually never late.” If anything, he’s always inconveniently early, but Panda restrained himself from making that comment aloud.

“What, is it already 12?” Grizz leaned in to check the time on Panda’s phone. “Huh, he is late. Man, he just barely missed all that fun in the snow.”

“Yeah, guess he did.” Panda glanced over to the window at the mention of snow. They may have slept through it, but the weather must have been pretty brutal last night for this much snow to have ended up out there.... Ice Bear was just then coming back with their mugs, handing them over to his brothers before sitting down. Panda tried to relax as he drank his cocoa, looking back to the T.V., but he just couldn't help but give little glances every few seconds to the window.

“Maybe I should go out there? The dumb guy probably got himself lost in all this snow.” Panda huffed as he hopped off the couch. Without even skipping a beat, Ice Bear pulled out a thermos, handing it over to Panda. “Wait, what's--”

“Cocoa for trip. Keep warm while outside.” Ice Bear answered.

“Wha-- I mean, thank you, but why did you have this already made?”

“Ice Bear could see worrying from a mile away. Came prepared.”

“I'm not _worried_ about him.” Panda rolled his eyes as he took the cocoa. “Charlie’s tough, he just might need help getting around out there.”

“Ice Bear will let you think anything you want to think.”

“Pssh, hush, you.” Panda went to go get his scarf and hat from the dryer, anything that meant he could escape this conversation.

“You be careful out there, Pan-Pan, it's cold out there!” Grizz called out.

“Ice Bear is the only bear allowed to be reckless.”

“Pfft, I'll be fine, he’s probably only a couple minutes away, anyway.” ~~Panda hoped.~~ Making sure he had his cocoa in hand, he headed for the door. “I'll be back soon, alright?” He waved goodbye to his brothers, before he made his way out the door.

The woods were so quiet during the winter, everything was either hibernating or just staying in their little dens, not wanting to face the cold, especially not with all this snow out here. But even without having to freak out over bugs and snakes (Or maybe just bugs, Panda and the snakes kind of had an agreement), it was still a little difficult getting through the woods without snow sticking to his boots every few minutes. But Panda still eventually made it, all the way to the little busted-up blue car that Charlie called his house.

...Which was odd, Panda was convinced that he'd meet Charlie halfway there or something. Was he still in there, did he sleep in? “Charlie?” Panda called out as he went towards the car, knocking a couple times on the window. There was so much frost, he couldn't even see inside to check if Charlie was in there in the first place. Wait, frost… Panda’s eyes went wide as he tugged the door handle, but just as he feared, it was frozen shut. “No, nononono--” Panda kept pulling in an attempt to pry it open, Charlie must have been trapped in there, no wonder he never showed up! “Hang in there, Charlie, I'll get you out of there! Oh man, oh no oh no--”

“Panda!” Came a voice, Charlie emerging from a tree, hanging upside-down from his legs on a branch.

Panda squeaked in shock, nearly dropping his thermos as he turned to face Charlie. Once he got a decent look at him, he just sighed in relief. “Jeez, Charlie, I thought you got frozen shut in there…”

“Oh, nah, I’ve been out of there for a good bit! Just been _chilling_ in this tree. (Hah, ba dum tshhh.)” With a little “hup,” Charlie let go of the branch, did what appeared to be half of a flip, and then landed face-down in the snow. “Meant to do that!” He was quick to clarify before he pulled himself back up. “Say, what brings you here, anyway? Wasn’t I supposed to come over today?”

“Yeah, you were, you're actually kind of late, I wanted to make sure you didn't forget or get lost or something.” Panda pulled his phone out to show Charlie the time, it was 12:30 by now.

“Aw, shoot, guess it's kind of hard to tell the time when it's all cloudy, sorry about that.” 

“I'm not worried about it, at this point, I'm just glad you weren’t in that ca-- Hey, wait, how long have you been out of there, anyway?”

“Oh! Yeah, I’d wandered pretty far by the time the snow started up last night. It was already stuck by the time I got home, kinda ended up just sleeping on a branch, there were a bunch of leaves blocking those snowflakes and all that.”

“Charlie!” Panda groaned, placing a paw on his face and shaking his head. “You couldn't find any better shelter than under some leaves? You could've gotten yourself sick, you know, it’s literally freezing out here.”

“Don't fret about that, Pan-Pan, don't you think I would've gotten sick plenty of times by now if it was gonna happen at all?” Charlie assured him with a little pat on his head.

“With how much you eat food off the ground with your feet, I guess I am surprised you haven't already.” Panda groaned as they both started to walk, back into the direction of the cave. But only a few steps forward, Charlie just. Came to an abrupt stop, then fell down.

“Charlie?” Panda rushed over to him, bending over to shake his shoulder. “Charlie, what happened, did you trip, are you okay?”

A groan escaped him, indicating that he was, in fact, still alive. He placed his hands on the ground, shakily pulling himself up onto his knees. “I'm okay, I'm good, let's keep--” He was interrupted by a sneeze, luckily having turned his head away from Panda first. “Movin’.”

Panda noticed right away that his voice sounded scratchier, not to mention stuffier, like a cold just suddenly hit Charlie all at once. Sheesh, this guy had some weird biology… But that wasn't his main concern right now, Charlie was actually sick! Panda reached for Charlie’s hand, helping him stand upright again. “Man, what happened, do you always just collapse like that whenever you catch a cold?”

“I mean, it's been a good while, but…” Charlie just shrugged, leaning against the bear beside him and sniffling. “Maybe I should come over another time, I probably won't have the energy to do much--”

“Charlie, that's the dumbest thing you've ever suggested, and that's a hard record to break.” Panda sighed, putting an arm around Charlie to keep him steady while they walked. “Look, you need to rest somewhere that isn't in a tree. We have a comfy couch and some blankets and everything. Stuff that you should've been using last night in the first place.”

“Wasn’t coming to your house while you're sleeping one of those things you told me I had to quit doin’?”

“Not when it’s snowing and you can't get into your--” Panda just groaned. “I’d rather you bother us than sleep in freezing weather and get yourself sick. I mean, what if I didn't get to you in time?” As Panda spoke, he started pulling off his scarf and hat so he could put them on Charlie instead. It wasn't much, but the last thing Charlie needed right now was to be exposed any further to the freezing cold.

Charlie blinked at the whole gesture, his face tinting that odd blue color of his, almost unnoticeable under all that fur, but regardless. “Gee, Panda…” He couldn't stop himself from smiling a little, even as he got scolded.

“Okay, okay, pipe down, your throat sounds sore,” Panda interrupted abruptly, looking off to the side. He glanced down to the thermos he'd been holding, then handed it over to Charlie. “Actually, here, this might make it feel better, it's peppermint cocoa.”

“Ooh.” Charlie took a sip from the container, smiling softly as he felt himself being warmed back up. “Huh, that is good. Hey, Pan-Man, there isn’t any chance that you'd have some cheesy poofs, is there?”

“Why would you think--” Panda sighed, pulling out a little snack-sized bag in defeat. He knew the fate of these poor poofs, but dang it, Charlie was kind of pitiful right now, he couldn't deny him this. “Who am I kidding, you and I both know I always bring you a bag nowadays.”

“This is why you're my favorite, Pan-Man.” Charlie was quick to grab the bag, opening it and the thermos up so he could drop a small handful of poofs into the cocoa.

“Charlie, that's disgusting. ...But I'm glad I could help.” Panda pulled Charlie a little closer to make sure he was still steady, continuing their trip back to the cave.

“Oh, hey, he's coming back!” Grizz pointed out of the window as Panda finally began to approach the cave, arm still around Charlie’s shoulder as he led him closer to the door. “Heh, look at him holding onto Charlie, that’s kinda cute.”

“Ice Bear knew this day would come.”

Grizz swung the door open and waved to Panda, like the younger bear didn’t know where his own dang front door was or something. “Panda, Charlie, hey! You made it back!” He stepped aside as Panda let himself and Charlie in. As he passed by, Charlie raised his hand up to give a sort of wave to Grizz. “Me and little bro were just gearing up to go back outside.”

“Ice Bear is ready for snowball fight rematch. Refuses to lose at his own game.”

“Uh, about that, guys, Charlie isn't exactly feeling that great.” Panda sat Charlie down on the couch, helping him to remove the scarf and hat, then taking a throw blanket that had been draped loosely over the couch and wrapping it around him. “I'm kind of snowed out right now, anyway, I did just take a half hour walk out there.”

“Ice Bear will assume this means you forfeit.”

“I do _not_ forfeit, I'll get you next time it snows in, y’know, a hundred years or whatever.”

“Charlie’s sick, huh?” Grizz tilted his head, placing a paw on his chin. “Now you mention it, it’s usually never this easy to get him to sit down. So you're just gonna stay in while we play out there? I feel kinda bad, not gonna lie.”

“Ice Bear can stay inside and help.”

“Hey, like I said, I need a little while inside, and I can't just leave Charlie alone like this.” Panda pulled his snow shoes off and sat down next to Charlie, taking the remote so he could see what was on. “You guys go on out there, I don't want to hold you back!”

“I mean, if you say so…” Grizz slooowly started backing up towards the door, Ice Bear not taking long to start following. “Little bro and I will be, ya know, out there, you guys stay safe. Call for us if you need anything. Don't do crimes.” Snow snow snow _snow._

“Pff, yeah yeah, we’ll try.” Panda rolled his eyes with a smile, waving Grizz off. “Get out there already, sheesh.”

And with barely a second in between, the two were out the door. When the door was shut, Grizz glanced over to his younger brother, then whispered, “So… We're in agreement that this is the cutest that Panda's ever been, right?”

“Ice Bear would say it's up there.”

Back inside, Panda took the now-empty thermos from Charlie’s hands, going over to the kitchen so he could put it away. “You hanging in there, Charlie? Need anything while I'm in here?”

“To be honest, I'm still feelin’ pretty cold.” Charlie admitted as he gripped the blanket around him, wrapping it as tight as he could.

“Are you?” Panda let out a hum as he started looking through the pantry. “I don't think I can make any more of that cocoa without butchering it, but let me see if I can find you something…” After a little bit of rummaging, Panda found a couple cans of tomato soup, tilting his head. “Huh, this should work. Hey Charlie, do you like grilled cheese?” He called out.

“Had me at cheese!” Charlie called back, then coughed.

“Heh, alright man, don’t strain your voice.” Panda set the soup down on the counter, walking over to the door so he could call out to his brothers. “Hey guys, I'm making some grilled cheese, do you guys want--”

They didn't even seem to hear him, Ice too busy chasing Grizz down the yard. Both of them were covered in snow, looking like they wasted no time in restarting their war. “How did you even make throwing stars out of _snow_!” Grizz cried out as he tried to find an escape from his youngest brother's fury.

“...I’ll take that as a no.” Panda blinked, then just shut the door to let them do, well. Whatever the heck was going on out there. He passed Charlie and went back to the kitchen, starting to pull everything he needed out. “Just call for me if you need something, Charlie, I'll listen out.” Charlie raised his thumb up in understanding, and with that, Panda began getting everything ready.

Back outside, Grizz was struggling to unpin his scarf from a tree, one of Ice’s snow-stars keeping him in place. “Come on, little bro, it doesn't have to be this way.” He pleaded. “It’s me, Grizz, your beloved older brother, the one who's always taken care of you. Remember that time you were short a dime and I just happened to have one stuck in my fur? Does that really not matter to you any more?”

Ice Bear just stared coldly, one arm holding a pile of snowballs, and his free paw tossing one up and down in the air. He had Grizz right where he wanted him, and now, he was slowly approaching, ready to fire. Grizz had to think quick if he wanted to make it out of this alive! He looked up, and, upon the sight of the snow-covered tree, was struck with an idea. As soon as Ice Bear was at a comfortable throwing position, he squinted at Grizz, raising the snowball up. 3, 2, 1, and…

But before he even had a chance to see what was coming, Grizz kicked the tree behind him. All at once, a pile of snow poured down, completely covering Ice.

“...To get to the other side!” Charlie burst into a fit of giggles as Panda handed him a plate, a more-than-slightly-burnt sandwich and a bowl of soup settled on top of it. “You see, it's funny because you think you're going to hear some hilarious punchline, but you just get something that sounds obvious instead!” Right as he finished speaking, he turned his head away to cough, just barely remembering to raise up his elbow right before. He's getting better at this.

“You're really a comedic genius, Charlie.” Panda rolled his eyes and smiled, sitting back down with his own plate.

Charlie pulled out the opened bag of cheese poofies from earlier, crushing some up in his hand and sprinkling the crumbs in his soup. “You wanna try this? There's still a few left in there.” Charlie took out the last little handful, offering them over.

“Maaaybe next time, you know, when you're not sick.” Panda declined, gently pushing his hand away. Charlie just shrugged, throwing the rest of those in his soup too and picking up his sandwich. “Oh, uh, sorry it's kind of burnt, you know I'm not exactly the chef of this house.”

“Hey, don't worry about it! You made it with love, that's what counts.” Charlie dunked his sandwich in the soup, then took a bite, speaking again with his mouth all full. “And cheese, can't forget the cheese.”

“Heh, I mean, as long as you like it.” Panda started eating too, sort of cringing at the burnt taste. Bleh. Love and cheese or not, Panda still couldn't tell how Charlie could enjoy it this much. “Hey, what are we watching right now?”

“Oh, get this, it's a movie where the exact same thing happening right now is happening there! It snowed in California, and everyone's freaking out over how rare it is!”

“...Charlie, I think this is the weather channel.”

“Knew that!”

Panda shook his head and smiled, taking the remote so he could see if there was anything a little more entertaining on. As he was flipping through channels, though, the screen suddenly turned to static. “Wha-?” Panda groaned as he tried to change the channel a couple more times, but no matter what, the screen stayed fuzzy. “Dang it, the satellite dish is probably covered in snow…”

“Hey, that ain't a problem, let me--” Charlie was only barely lifting himself off the couch before Panda stuck out his arm, blocking him from getting up.

“Charlie, you stupid, considerate, well-meaning buffoon, do _not_.” With Panda's sternness clear, Charlie just. Nodded silently, and settled back down. Panda sighed, tapping his chin as he tried to figure out what else they could do. “Wanna play some video games? I don't think we've ever had the chance to show you any.” Panda got up and walked over to the console, where several games were stacked. “We've got a bunch of Super Cat Knight games, kart racing…” He raised a brow. “What, why do we have a game about That's The Right Price, how do you even make that into a game?” He mumbled, continuing to go through the cases.

“Ah, just surprise me, anything that you pick has gotta be great!”

“New Super Cat Knight 2D it is!” Panda pulled the disc out of the case so he could set it up. “It's pretty simple when you get the hang of it, but really fun, I think you'll like it.” Once he got everything hooked up and set, he went back to the couch and handed Charlie a controller. “Alright, I'll make a new save file so we can start from the beginning. So I'll play Super Cat Knight, and you’ll be his brother. You use the D-Pad to move around, and you press A to jump-- Charlie, what are you doing?”

“Am I winning?” Charlie asked as he hit the controller, jumping on poor Cat Knight repeatedly.

“Dude, you're not playing against me, we're supposed to work together here.” Panda couldn't help but laugh a little. “Look, just move your character to the right, attack enemies by jumping on them or pressing B, and jump under any of the boxes that have an exclamation mark--”

“Wait, how do you say hey to the little guys on the screen? Maybe if I just--” Charlie approached one of the enemies, and like that, his poor character lost his first life. “Dang!”

“...You can be too precious sometimes, man.”

“What was that, Pan-Pan?”

“Nothing.”

Grizz had never been more terrified in his life. Ever since the tree incident, Ice had been on his tail, punting snowball after snowball in his direction. “Bro, have mercy! I'm sorry I buried you in all that snow!” He pleaded.

“Ice Bear left mercy behind in the snow pile.”

And the chase simply continued, until finally, Grizz tripped over. “Ack!”

“Is brother okay?” Ice asked, pausing in his tracks, his arm raised up in the air halfway in preparation to throw while he waited on Grizz.

“Oh-- Yeah, I'm good, might have scraped myself a little, it’s nothing though. Where were we again? Oh, yeah.” He raised his arms up defensively. “Please, little bro, nooo!”

All the pleading in the world couldn't deter Ice Bear, though, and at long last, he threw the snowball right at Grizz. What he didn't realize until it was too late, though, was that snowball was his last.

“...So it appears you're out of ammo.” Grizz squinted at his brother. “So what do we do now? Will you finally accept that you've lost?”

“Ice Bear has one last plan.”

“What? What are you--” But before Grizz had any chance to stop him, Ice Bear reached over, lifting his older brother off of the ground. “No-- Nononono, put me down, what are you doing with me!” Without a word, Ice lifted Grizz above his head, and began to walk where this war _truly_ started, right back to the snow pile by the tree. “No, no, nooooo!” As Ice got close enough to the pile, his eyes glinted, and he prepared to throw his brother down....

“What!” Panda whined out, throwing his controller down in defeat. “How did you get me from 1st to 12th place like that!” Jeez, Panda figured kart racing might be easier for Charlie to get the hang of, but he didn't expect to be beat so brutally at a game he thought _he_ mastered.

“Well, I did learn from the best.” Charlie offered him a smile as he set his controller down.

“Do not try to flatter me to make me feel better.” Panda huffed, reaching over to give Charlie a playful little shove.

“Alright, alright.” Charlie laughed to himself. “I'm already feeling a little burnt out, though. Why don't I just watch you play for a while?”

“Really? If you say so.” With a shrug, Panda looked back to the screen. “Ooh, here, watch this, this is supposed to be the hardest track in the game.” Charlie shifted his attention to the game again as Panda selected the final course, Rainbow Drive. “I've gotten really good at it, I’ve even beaten little bro on this track a couple t--” Within two seconds of the race starting, Panda’s kart was knocked off the course by one of the CPU players. Charlie yelped, clinging onto Panda and burying his face in his fur as his racer fell into the infinite void of space. “Huh? Heh, Charlie, hey, calm down, you can't die in this game, see?” And sure enough, by some miracle, the kart was right back on the track like nothing happened.

Charlie whimpered as he hesitantly looked back to the screen. Sure enough, the kart was fine. But still, just a second later, Charlie was hiding his face again. “I. I dunno, Pan-Pan, this might be too intense, I don't think I can watch.”

“Hey, don't worry about it, I won't keep playing if it's freaking you out.” With that, Panda simply exited out of the game, scrolling through the menu on the console’s front page. “I think we have Cineweb on here, you wanna just watch a movie?”

“I mean...” Charlie spoke up, looking up again. “Only if it ain't too spooky, I think I've had enough heart attacks for the day.”

“I've got you covered, dude.” Panda assured him as he began scrolling through movies. “I'll find the fluffiest, cheesiest romcom that's ever been made, we'll both be happy.”

“You're the best, Pan.” Finally beginning to feel relaxed once again, Charlie let out a content sigh, leaning over to rest his head on top of Panda's. Panda’s eyes went wide at the sudden gesture, but then, he just smiled, continuing to scroll through the movies. Just this once, he'd lay off about his personal space.

Grizz and Ice both laid in the snow, exhausted. “Maybe… We should call this war a tie.” Grizz suggested, all out of breath, just desperate for this to all be over.

“Ice Bear… Will agree to a temporary truce.” Ice slowly sat back up, the two brothers glancing back over to the cave.

“Maybe it's time for us to go back inside?” Grizz asked.

“Ice Bear wants to see how Charlie is doing.”

Before actually making their way inside, the two went to the window to glance inside. All they could see was Charlie and Panda, curled up against each other as some cheesy movie played in front of them.

“Whoa. I almost don't wanna go in there and disturb them.” Grizz whispered over. “You… Think we should give them a little more time?”

“Ice Bear thinks he has errands to run anyway.”

“...So, yeah, that's my theory on how crows are the most intelligent species on the planet, and they could easily dominate the world if they weren’t so benevolent.” Panda closed off. “Thanks for listening to my dumb rambles, man-- Huh?” As Panda looked over, he found that Charlie had his eyes shut, likely for some time. “Charlie? Dude, hey.” He reached over to gently shake him awake.

“Wha, huh?” Charlie jolted awake, sitting up straight and rubbing at his eyes. “Shoot. Sorry, I was listenin’, really, I just started getting real tired all a sudden, and…”

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. You’re sick, of course you're gonna get sleepy.” Panda patted his arm reassuringly, then glanced over to the window. “I guess it’s starting to get dark outside. Here, come on.” Panda stood from the couch, reaching out for Charlie’s hand.

Charlie paused there just for a moment, blinking a couple times, before he nodded, took grip of Panda’s paw, and slowly stood up. “You really alright with me sleeping in your room?”

“Well I'm not gonna make you stay on the couch with that tiny blanket, dummy.” Panda led the other into his bedroom, which was… A little more cluttered, ever since the first time Charlie was in there. Not exactly messy, per say, but…

“Huh, you never told me you had all these paintings of me.” Charlie noted as he looked around.

Dang, Panda didn’t even think of that before he brought Charlie in here. He laughed it off, rubbing at the back of his neck as they walked over to his bed. Panda took a single pillow for himself, setting it down on the ground, right before he went to look for an extra blanket. “Yeah, well, you know, you always were pretty easy for me to paint and, it's just good practice, and, ahem, uh. It’s not, like. Weird, is it?”

“‘Course it ain't.” Charlie assured him. “I can’t get upset over somethin’ as nice as your paintings.” Panda found himself smiling at that, but his attention quickly shifted as Charlie sat down on the bed, knocking a certain long pillow off the mattress, looking over as it hit the ground. “Ah, shoot, sorry about that.”

“Oh, uh, don't worry about it, it's fine, it's cool.” Panda was quick to nudge the pillow out of sight under his bed, clearing his throat. “Here, how about I get you something to prop your legs on?” Panda went to get a stool from the corner of his room, the same one that Charlie used the first time he stayed with the bears, in fact, pushing it near the end of the bed. He took the throw blanket Charlie had been using, covering up the part of his legs that the comforter couldn’t quite reach as Charlie laid down.

“There, comfortable?” Panda asked, Charlie giving him a simple, satisfied nod as he nestled into the covers. Once he was sure Charlie was good, Panda sighed quietly, laying down in his own little makeshift bed.

“You know, Panda.” Charlie spoke up. “It means a lot, you stayin’ in and taking care of me instead of playing with your brothers.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it, it’s the least I could do. Y’know, since…” Panda frowned, his shoulders slumping.

“Huh? You okay there, Pan-Pan?”

“I just still feel bad.” He admitted. “I made you think you had to stay out there all night. You probably never would've gotten sick if I didn’t tell you off about coming over at weird hours.”

“Aw, hey, don't worry about it.” Charlie turned over onto his side so he could smile at the bear, reaching down to pat his head. “Maybe the circumstances weren’t the best, but at least I got to have a day with my best bud.”

Panda grumbled at those little pats, placing his paw on Charlie’s hand. He held it there for maybe just an extra couple of seconds, before releasing him. “I guess so. But look, still, come over whenever you need to, okay? You're… More important to me than I let on sometimes.” He trailed off some at the end there, but it was still audible. “I want you to stay as safe as you can.”

Charlie was quiet for a moment, but he smiled, nodding understandingly. “I'll be sure of it, I promise.” He said as he shut his eyes, finding it more difficult with every moment to keep them open.

“You’ve still gotta knock, though.” Panda quickly reminded him.

“Pfft. Fair enough.”

“Glad to hear it. Goodnight, Ch--” Before Panda could even finish speaking, Charlie was already snoring away. Panda puffed up his cheeks, then just shook his head, rolling over and starting to settle in. He incidentally bumped against Charlie’s hand, still dangling from the bed, and almost like instinct, Charlie’s fingers curled around Panda's paw. Panda went tense, feeling his cheeks burning, his eyes wide. But… Really, this wasn't all that terrible, he supposed. He relaxed once again, and finally shut his eyes, making no attempt to take his paw back.

The front door opened up, Grizz and Ice finally having made it back inside. They went straight for Panda’s room upon noticing they weren’t on the couch. “Hey, sorry we took so long, we went into the city to get you guys some stuff!” Grizz opened the door up, holding up a plastic grocery bag. “I’ve got cold medicine!”

“Ice Bear brought Charlie more orange jui--” Ice’s sentence came to a halt. Only then did they notice that Panda and Charlie were already asleep, neither of them budging in the slightest upon the other two bears’ sudden entrance.

“Are you seeing this?” Grizz whispered over to his youngest brother. Ice Bear only nodded, unable to take his eyes off of the two. “Man, they must have been tired, it's only like, 7 PM… Should we let them know we're back?”

“Ice Bear says we leave them be.”

“Heh. Couldn't agree more.” On that note, Grizz and Ice simply backed away, shutting the door quietly, leaving Charlie and Panda to snooze through the rest of the night paw-in-hand.


End file.
